Chapter 779: Sword Slays Fourteen
Wu Shuangjiang was trapped within the sword formation, a caged bird, yet also situated in a place without the Dao that was most capable of restraining immortal practitioners. He had not expected Chen Ping'an to know how to set up formations. Previously, the coordination with a single willow leaf from Jiang Shangzhen had allowed them to seize the initiative even against a fourteenth-tier cultivator, which surprised Wu Shuangjiang greatly.
Fists thrown by a tenth-tier martial artist at close range, with fists and feet both attacking like flying swords, carried no small weight for any cultivator at the summit.
The physical resilience of immortal practitioners had always been a weakness, unless one had reached the fourteenth-tier and merged with the heavens and earth, only then could one truly be reborn and live long, seeing the enduring. Merging with the human realm, relatively speaking, focused more on the path of killing power, pursuing extremes and stepping up onto a great step.
For pure martial artists, there existed an insurmountable chasm between the ninth and tenth tiers. For those cultivating the Dao and ascending mountains, it was even harder for a Flying Ascension-tier cultivator to break into the fourteenth-tier than to climb to the heavens.
Wu Shuangjiang retracted the azure-robed sword immortal who had been confronting Ning Yao, and had him stand side by side with "Ning Yao," one on each side. Wu Shuangjiang handed the four imitation immortal swords to them. "Chen Ping'an" wielded Taibai with his back, and held Wanfa. "Ning Yao" carried Tianzhen in her sword case, and held Daocang. Following Wu Shuangjiang's orders, they sought an opportunity to shatter the minor world, or at least break the restrictions of this minor world.
As for that sword formation, of course Wu Shuangjiang would personally lead the swords.
Placed in a land without the Dao, every time one used a technique or divine power, one would need to consume spiritual energy. Wu Shuangjiang was no exception.
After all, someone like Bai Ye, who had merged with the Dao, could continuously unleash swords as long as poetry was in his heart—that was too incredible to fathom.
Countless flying swords shot forth in a concentrated assault.
Wu Shuangjiang formed a hand seal with two fingers together, standing like a deity. Around him, stars appeared one by one. He was learning and applying on the spot, copying Cui Dongshan's star chart. The stars surrounded him, connected by faint threads, revolving in an orderly manner, filled with Dao intent. Wu Shuangjiang then pointed twice in the air with his fingers, conjuring a sun and a moon. The sun, moon, and stars thus cycled endlessly, forming a grand formation of a round heaven and square earth.
The densely packed flying swords were like thousands of sword cultivators, riding swords together through the void, attacking Wu Shuangjiang, who stood like a central deity.
The onslaught of flying swords was ceaseless. One by one, the illusory stars shattered, yet under Wu Shuangjiang's control, they restored themselves. Wu Shuangjiang looked up, probably thinking that he might not be able to withstand the sword formation, so he raised his hand. In his palm, he held a large handful of flower and wood seeds. As his palm tilted, the seeds fell from his palm. Where Wu Shuangjiang and his two "sword attendants" hovered, a layer of turquoise water ripples appeared. The seeds fell into the water, tinkling, and in this land without the Dao, they stirred up circle after circle of golden energy ripples.
Such tricks as minor worlds were child's play for Wu Shuangjiang. A cassia tree, with a full moon hanging from its branches, and beneath the tree, a deity holding an axe, posing as if chopping the cassia—this was an ancient scene of the Moon Palace. A peach tree, its branches full of talisman-paper kites, gleaming with golden light—this was the method of a certain Daoist from the Great Xuan Capital Temple. Lotuses stood gracefully, varying in height and size—this was the scenic beauty of the Lotus Minor Cave Heaven.
Every time a flying sword evolved from the Well Moon shattered, a string of golden characters remained suspended in place. These were all talisman characters drawn by Cui Dongshan, or poems by sages, or true-form diagrams of the Five Sacred Mountains from various dynasties, or various versions of the Bai Ze Searching the Mountains painting. Whenever the flying swords and runes advanced, like an army pressing down, using the sword formation to clear the way and then paving the path with talismans, smashing open a road through the starry heaven and earth, they would sweep away a lotus flower to patch the holes. Each golden kite on the peach tree, after floating off the branches, transformed into a misty, faceless azure-robed Daoist, holding a golden fly whisk, suspended at the sky canopy. One man could hold the pass—with a flick of the fly whisk, he could divert countless sword tips from the sword formation river, causing them to collide with the sword formation behind him.
That burly man in the guise of the Moon Palace cassia-chopping deity, with a pair of golden eyes, roamed his gaze around. At certain moments, he would hurl his axe, shattering the vast sword formations that surged like starry rivers, and sometimes even flashed away, ignoring the sword formation's restrictions, charging straight for Chen Ping'an's true body. Chen Ping'an found himself unable to dodge each time, so he had no choice but to manifest a Dharma form—a bright red ritual robe, a thousand zhang tall—and crushed the giant axe with one palm.
There were simply too many flying swords. The sword formation layered upon itself, infinite and endless, suspended beyond the sky, like an army gathering, poised to strike. Wu Shuangjiang was slightly surprised. One of the flying swords had a innate divine ability that gave Chen Ping'an the advantage of heaven and earth, which was not unusual. But to control a second innate flying sword in his own minor world, though it did not consume excessive spiritual energy, it still wore down a cultivator's essence, energy, and spirit considerably. This meant that this young Hidden Guardian relied not only on the physique of a peak martial artist but had not slacked off in cultivating the Dao or tempering his Dao heart either. Otherwise, a Jade Perfection-tier sword cultivator controlling so many flying swords would long have been dizzy.
That cassia-chopping axe was not strong in killing power. Its only advantage was that it did not emphasize killing force but was specially used to find people. In reality, it was a self-made jade-axe talisman by Wu Shuangjiang, recognized in the cultivation world as a great talisman, akin to a Flying Ascension-tier great cultivator among landscape-breaking talismans. When Wu Shuangjiang fought with others, he was mostly like this—every technique, every talisman, was measured, extremely "frugal," full of probing intent. It precisely tested the truth, and the hardest part was that he could avoid making mistakes.
Wu Shuangjiang stood on a lotus leaf as large as a city. The starry sky minor world had already lost nearly half its territory, but the formation's core remained intact. However, the peach tree kites had been worn away, the cassia tree's bright moon had gradually dimmed, and most of the lotus leaves had been used to block the sword formation, only to be shredded by the flying sword rivers. In the sky canopy, golden inscriptions of sages from past dynasties stood like the Five Sacred Mountains, and various Searching the Mountains paintings had occupied most of the sky.
Wu Shuangjiang was not worried about this at all. To think that a mere sword formation and a land without the Dao could exhaust his spiritual energy or force him to reveal all his treasures was still wishful thinking on the opponent's part.
Wu Shuangjiang reached out, taking back the imitation Taibai sword from the azure-robed sword immortal behind him. He weighed it—the sword intent was still too light.
This time, he was dueling with those few, each taking what they needed, each giving surprises.
Cui Dongshan and the others had layered minor worlds, and Wu Shuangjiang took this opportunity to perfect the sword intent of the imitation Tianzhen and Taibai swords. Even gaining a sliver of benefit was an immeasurable gain.
Bai Ye, too, was not a sword cultivator.
What about Bai Ye's swordsmanship?
The battle at Fuyang Continent and the battle at the capital of Bottle Gourd Continent's Dulu River had been regarded by peak cultivators as the two major turning points of that great war—one on the mountains, one below.
Although Wu Shuangjiang was deeply mired in difficulty, surrounded by a majestic sword formation full of killing intent, he still split off two grains of mind to tour two cave abodes within his human-body minor world. Using the mountain-rubbing technique of the cultivation world, he copied two paintings: one was Cui Dongshan's star chart, and the other was Jiang Shangzhen's Taiping Scroll Searching the Mountains painting. The worlds of the paintings were frozen at a certain moment, as if the river of time had stopped. Wu Shuangjiang's mind traveled through them separately. In the first painting, it was frozen at the moment Cui Dongshan appeared after the seventh southern lunar mansion, with the Chariot Mansion beneath his feet. He had just used his finger to draw a talisman, writing the six characters "Wu Shuangjiang of Suichu Palace." Then the black-clad deity and five yellow-clad goddesses each held one character.
Wu Shuangjiang arrived at that heavenly patrol chariot, standing beside a yellow-clad heavenly official, looking at the ancient seal-character "Frost" (Shuang) held in her palm. Wu Shuangjiang fell into deep thought, his mind racing. That white-robed youth intended to tamper with his fate? "Zhen" (Chariot Mansion) was not only the name of a lunar mansion but also had the meaning of grief in the Shuowen Jiezi. The "Xuan Chi" chapter also had the phrase "reversing its order, revolving its path." Cui Dongshan's choice to appear at the Chariot Mansion was definitely not casual. But to think that by leveraging this bit of heavenly timing and fate, he could damage a fourteenth-tier cultivator's humanly fused destiny? Wasn't that like trying to shake a tree? The Embroidery Tiger Cui Chan's calculations would never be so shallow.
Wu Shuangjiang pondered for a moment. The form manifested by his mustard-seed mind suddenly plummeted, unknown how many millions of miles, until he stood at the place where Cui Dongshan had previously stood. Wu Shuangjiang looked up. According to the division of celestial phenomena and geography, the place beneath his feet was exactly the boundary of the Ox and Maid stars. The adjacent celestial mansions above were the Wings and Chariot Mansion stars. Wu Shuangjiang stood there for a long time without moving, as if there was a trace of a clue, but it was extremely difficult to pick up the thread.
In another cave abode, another grain of Wu Shuangjiang's mustard-seed mind was standing beside the colossal emissary who stepped on mountains and held a Demon-Locking Mirror. After the painting froze, the mirror light was like flying swords, forming a solidified rainbow in the sky. After Wu Shuangjiang copied that long-lost Demon-Locking Mirror, he shifted his gaze, walking toward the woman with one head and four faces, adorned with colored streamers. He stood on a streamer as wide as a stream, looking down at the mountains and rivers.
For cultivators of their realm, things like shattering mountains with fists, moving rivers and seas, or attacking with countless treasures covering the sky were all minor arts.
An ordinary Immortal-tier immortal practitioner or a ninth-tier pure martial artist would have no chance to strike in this battle, or rather, striking would be meaningless.
Wu Shuangjiang frowned slightly, lightly flicking his sleeve. He brushed away most of the color from thousands of mountain peaks, turning the colored painting into a line drawing. After flicking his sleeve multiple times to change the colors of the mountains and rivers, he finally left only a few tall mountains with stable roots. Wu Shuangjiang looked closely and, sure enough, they had all been subtly tampered with by Jiang Shangzhen. Many traces had been scraped away, leaving only the mountain bodies themselves, and at the same time, the mountains had been refined into seals, like several blank seals yet to be inscribed. Wu Shuangjiang sneered, flipped his palm, and inverted all several mountains. Good heavens—two of them had faint traces, and the cliff carvings were not in large calligraphy. They were very cunning. Not only were the characters as small as fly-head script, but a layer of camouflage restriction had also been applied. After Wu Shuangjiang erased it, the truth was revealed: respectively carved were "Suichu Palace" and "Wu Shuangjiang."
Wu Shuangjiang withdrew the Searching the Mountains formation painting, grabbed with both hands, and held the two mountains in his palms like two miniature ornamental stones. He then merged with the grain of mind from the star chart, waved his sleeve to scatter the excess stars, moved the mountains, and placed them again. With a light wave, the miniature mountains in his hand rose within the formation diagram. Wu Shuangjiang then raised his hand to manifest a river, and built two pavilions. When Wu Shuangjiang used his finger as a brush to write the two plaques "Suppressing the River" and "Embracing Green," the nearby mountain roots and water veins seemed to be brought to life by a divine dragon's finishing touch. Suddenly, there were falling clouds and solitary swans, autumn waters and long skies—a pleasant scenery. Not only that, but with a thought from Wu Shuangjiang, a majestic pavilion with green glazed tiles was erected by the great river. That Embroidery Tiger had clearly imitated Su Shi's handwriting, altering the inscription on the golden plaque to the three characters "Stork Tower." Wu Shuangjiang took a step and arrived at the base of the pavilion steps, looking up. There was a man with a blurry appearance, like the so-called "Prince in the Pavilion" from the books.
A star chart in the sky, a Searching the Mountains formation on the ground.
That would be a Three Powers Formation of heaven, earth, and man?
As expected, all this fuss was not simply the flashy overlapping of heavens and earth, but rather that three minor worlds had, at certain key positions, hidden the secret of mutually embedding formation eyes.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled knowingly. This formation was not bad. The most interesting part was that the "man" who completed the Three Powers of heaven, earth, and man turned out to be himself. He had almost fallen into the trap—the darkness under the lamp.
If those three had followed this thread, using endless methods as camouflage, accumulating advantages bit by bit, it was possible that Wu Shuangjiang would indeed wander in circles here, being peeled and drawn, his Dao cultivation greatly diminished.
No wonder the water dragon that had been hidden in the mirror light earlier had tried to disguise itself as a wisp of Jiang Shangzhen's sword light. Unfortunately, after Wu Shuangjiang detected the anomaly, it attempted to bite through the ritual robe but failed. Otherwise, if it had managed to absorb even a single drop of blood essence, that "Prince in the Pavilion" inside the "Stork Tower" would have become much clearer, closer to the truth of Wu Shuangjiang himself. These three young men in the Hao Ran world stopped at nothing—they truly dared to think and even more dared to act.
Half of the triumphant Embroidery Tiger, a Jade Tablets Sect master who saved the day at Parasol Leaf Continent, and the last Hidden Guardian of the Sword Qi Great Wall.
Their reputations were well-deserved.
If one wanted to become famous, one had to do it early. And beating others up also had to be done early.
On the path of cultivation, when encountering promising and likable juniors, seniors should not stint on a few words of advice. That way, they would never run out of wine to drink in the future.
Sun Daoist of the Profound Capital Temple liked to talk nonsense, but he had still spoken a few golden words.
Wu Shuangjiang did not even casually step into the pavilion, even though it was only a projection of his own state of mind. He still did not act arrogantly.
Cui Dongshan had not truly exerted himself all along. It was more Chen Ping'an and Jiang Shangzhen who had been acting, so it turned out they were secretly plotting this.
Withdrawing his mustard-seed mind, Wu Shuangjiang turned to look.
At the far end of the sky, a golden thread appeared.
Wu Shuangjiang raised the imitation Taibai sword in his hand, and the lotus leaf beneath him tilted.
A sword light arrived in an instant, directly splitting Wu Shuangjiang's entire starry heaven and earth in two, cutting it in half!
Even the imitation sword in Wu Shuangjiang's hand was severed along with it.
That sword light flashed past Wu Shuangjiang's side, his ritual robe rustling loudly, and there was even a faint sound of tearing silk.
Wu Shuangjiang shook his wrist, and the imitation Taibai sword in his hand restored itself to completeness.
It was Ning Yao who had struck.
Her sword sweep from far away had sliced open the minor world horizontally.
Ning Yao's second sword—a trace of sword light from afar, within the starry heaven and earth, became an awe-inspiring river of sword energy.
Wu Shuangjiang used the technique of shrinking the land and mountains, having anticipated this, and barely dodged that extremely sharp sword light. However, the two sword-bearing men and women had already been blasted apart by the sword light.
Wu Shuangjiang changed his plan, temporarily withdrew the residual aura of the two puppet sword attendants "Ning Yao" and "Chen Ping'an" into his sleeve, and personally controlled the four imitation immortal swords.
He glanced at the imitation Taibai sword, shook his head—still failed to condense the essential sword intent of Tianzhen.
In fact, earlier, Jiang Shangzhen had informed the mountain master's wife that it was best to use fewer swords, be careful not to let that guy steal sword intent.
Ning Yao only replied with one sentence: No need to worry.
Taking advantage of the coming collapse of Wu Shuangjiang's starry heaven and earth, Jiang Shangzhen appeared, patted Chen Ping'an on the shoulder, and said solemnly, "Take care."
Having a wife was certainly a good thing, but with a wife like that, at least you, Chen Ping'an, could forget about drinking in flower houses for the rest of your life.
At the same time, Jiang Shangzhen communicated through mind voice, "How is it? How far from the moon over the well?"
Chen Ping'an grinned. "Still some gap."
The fight couldn't be for nothing. Besides doing serious business and following the plan with Cui Dongshan and Jiang Shangzhen, Chen Ping'an was also using Wu Shuangjiang's minor world as a whetstone, similar to the Dragon-Slaying Platform, to meticulously hone the edge of the Well Moon.
Jiang Shangzhen hesitated, as if to say something.
Chen Ping'an said with a smile, "If you want to kill a fourteenth-tier, you have to pay a price."
Two sword lights flashed, and Jiang Shangzhen and Chen Ping'an vanished from their spots simultaneously.
But Chen Ping'an found that a talisman painted with a jade axe was following him, and the two imitation swords, Taibai and Wanfa, were like shadows. It should be that the giant axe of the cassia-chopping man had transformed into this. The killing power of this talisman was mediocre, but the biggest trouble was that it clung relentlessly. Chen Ping'an communicated to Jiang Shangzhen through mind voice, "You handle your own affairs, don't worry about me. I'll meet these two immortal swords."
A rare opportunity, he might as well temper his martial artist physique along the way.
Every bit of recovery counted.
Even though the three of them had set up the trap, they had already weighed the consequences at Fallen Mountain.
The price that must be paid might be Chen Ping'an losing one of his innate flying swords, either the Caged Bird or the Well Moon.
It might be Jiang Shangzhen's single willow leaf, the flying sword's rank dropping. It might be Cui Dongshan losing the outer shell of an Immortal-tier relic.
Or even more, such as Chen Ping'an's martial artist peak realm dropping.
Or perhaps someone must pay a greater price.
At Fallen Mountain, Chen Ping'an eventually set a rule: no matter who was saved by the other two, that person must have the awareness. If even the three of them working together could not change that worst-case scenario, then let that person exchange lives with a mortal enemy like Sword Master Pei Min, to ensure that the other two's path of the Dao would not be completely cut off. Cui Dongshan and Jiang Shangzhen had no objections to this at the time.
Wu Shuangjiang placed one hand behind his back, while the two fingers of his other hand seemed to pluck a string. A sound without a string resounded between heaven and earth.
Behind him, a Heaven-Man phase emerged, like a yin spirit leaving the body for a distant journey, holding the two imitation swords, Daocang and Tianzhen. With one sword strike, he returned the courtesy to Ning Yao.
Chen Ping'an, who had just dodged the two sword lights of Taibai and Wanfa, was struck by an unexpected heavenly thunder. The next moment, Chen Ping'an grabbed the tips of the two imitation swords with both hands, his body sliding backward thousands of zhang. Sword light blossomed, and his hands were bloody and mangled. Sword energy surged, and his entire face was cut with dense sword scars. He had to squint, unable to look directly at the sword light. Chen Ping'an's backward momentum still could not slow down at all, and the sword tips slowly pierced out from his palms.
Wu Shuangjiang plucked the invisible, stringless ancient zither again. "This kid really knows how to hide his abilities. With this martial artist physique, why bother showing off a Jade Perfection Dharma form?"
While gripping the tips of the two imitation swords tightly, Chen Ping'an could only let the heavenly thunder caused by the stringless sound strike his body.
Wu Shuangjiang bent his two fingers, pulled a string, and gently released his fingers. Chen Ping'an was like being struck horizontally across the abdomen, his whole body forced to bend, and his hands slid forward as a result. The tips of the two imitation swords were now right before his eyes.
A fourteenth-tier Heaven-Man combined Dharma form, after all, did not hold real immortal swords, and against the Flying Ascension-tier sword cultivator Ning Yao's challenge of swords, it had already fallen behind.
Wu Shuangjiang smiled and said, "Blossom."
The Heaven-Man phase behind him instantly transformed into a thousand versions, each hovering in place, holding two swords each. A challenge of swords—sword energy like a waterfall, pouring fiercely toward Ning Yao, one person with one sword.
Wu Shuangjiang formed a hand seal with one hand, all the while continuously calculating in his mind.
Suddenly, Wu Shuangjiang accidentally snapped a string. He raised his hand, and a drop of blood oozed from his finger.
Wu Shuangjiang's expression turned grave. His heartstrings shook violently. Even with his deduction techniques, he could still find no trace.
That white-robed youth, who had been watching from the sidelines as if detached, crouched inside a pavilion. He had not truly fought Wu Shuangjiang yet, but he looked worse off than Chen Ping'an and Jiang Shangzhen—blood flowing from his seven orifices, cursing and spitting. In front of him stood a dazed porcelain figure of "Wu Shuangjiang." Around this figure, Cui Dongshan had meticulously set up a formation, creating an extremely favorable feng shui site for it—better than could be. Everything was used: dragon-locating techniques, opening three mountains and setting directions, incoming and returning waters, heavenly stars and earthly plates, the forty-eight positions of favorable and adverse mountain families, the Buddhist six paramitas, the Daoist grand offering, the 244 positions of regenerated five elements auspicious and inauspicious... all were applied to this Lord Wu, Old Immortal Wu!
And it was just a star chart, a Searching the Mountains formation, and a Three Powers Formation of the Prince in the Pavilion, Wu Shuangjiang?
What a joke! You, Wu Shuangjiang, have underestimated your own fourteenth-tier. And you have also underestimated my great uncle Cui and my master's and Chief Zhou's brains.
Earlier, Cui Dongshan and Jiang Shangzhen, besides the Caged Bird and the Willow Shade Land, still needed treasures to fall like rain—what for? It was to overlay, on top of the Three Powers Formation, a Five Elements Formation, and then on top of the Five Elements Formation, a Seven Stars Formation.
A relatively obvious and detectable Three Powers Formation was both a camouflage and not a camouflage.
The five elements: Metal—Chen Ping'an's Caged Bird. Water—Cui Dongshan's ancient Shu Swamp. Wood—Jiang Shangzhen's Willow Shade Land. Fire—a large cluster of volcanoes personally arranged by Cui Dongshan, the formation named Old Lord's Alchemy Furnace. Earth—a True Form Map of the Five Sacred Mountains using the Well Moon and Jiang Shangzhen's single willow leaf as concealment techniques.
Three Powers, Five Elements, Seven Stars—layers upon layers.
Plus the two hidden auxiliary formations, it became a complete seven manifest and two hidden beyond the Seven Stars.
The Big Dipper marks death!
The most crucial part among these was Cui Dongshan's painstaking effort to create this porcelain figure of Wu Shuangjiang!
Cui Dongshan, ignoring the blood on his face, pressed his fingers like hooks onto the head of the porcelain Wu Shuangjiang. "Break into pieces, damn it!"
Cui Dongshan pressed firmly on that head, and little by little, signs of the Great Dao collapsing appeared. Cui Dongshan's outer shell of an ancient Shu dragon immortal relic also developed countless cracks.
When the porcelain figure suddenly burst into pieces, Cui Dongshan was sent flying backward, falling onto his back in a pool of blood.
At the same time, the many minor worlds overlapped layer by layer and merged into one.
The four imitation immortal swords and the Heaven-Man phase were all forced back to Wu Shuangjiang's side.
This was truly the Great Dao grinding ants, crushing a fourteenth-tier.
All the minor worlds, including Wu Shuangjiang, were as small as a mustard seed.
Chen Ping'an, wearing a bright red ritual robe, his tenth-tier martial artist physique bearing the true names of countless great demons, was completely hunched over. When he no longer deliberately straightened his spine, for the first time since returning from the Sword Qi Great Wall, he fully revealed his tenth-tier Qi Flourishing realm. He reached out and grasped the long sword, Night Tour.
Allow me to go first.
With the sword that opened Sui Mountain in his youth, plus the Divine Beating the Drum style.
As many swords as he could deliver, he would deliver.
Transforming into a rainbow, he departed.
The grace of a sword immortal.
Jiang Shangzhen and Ning Yao stood each on one side.
An Immortal-tier sword cultivator in an azure gown and cloth shoes, with a complete willow leaf suspended before him, like a whale swallowing, completely drained Jiang Shangzhen's spiritual energy. He did not hesitate to drain the pond to catch the fish, even if it meant his innate flying sword's rank dropped, or even broke.
Ning Yao, wielding her sword, hovered in the air. She extended one finger, pressed it to her brow, and lightly wiped. The immortal sword Tianzhen in her hand, until this moment, as if receiving a pardon, truly ascended to the pinnacle sword realm.
Chen Ping'an merged twenty-one swords into one, sword-slaying the true body and Heaven-Man phase of the fourteenth-tier Wu Shuangjiang.
Jiang Shangzhen's flying sword severed the head of the yin spirit.
Ning Yao's one sword cut away all of Wu Shuangjiang's soul.